The present invention relates generally to the area of training techniques and more specifically to software training techniques embedded within a software application.
Success of a new software application depends on the ability of users to effectively learn and utilize the software. Unfortunately, nearly all computer software today is designed around processing data with little or no consideration of how people need to use it to perform their work tasks. As a result, training services, software documentation and end user support services have flourished as a way to help users figure out how to work around these systems.
Current software training techniques include general classroom training sessions, online tutorials and third party training resources. These systems typically employ a general teaching approach to accommodate the wide variety of users. These training approaches cannot provide individual customized training. Thus the users are often limited in their training for utilizing the new software, reducing productivity.
With continued advancements in software applications, it is important to keep users abreast of new techniques. If users fail to grasp the improvements of existing systems, these shortcomings will only be perpetuated with new systems. This is problematic because after several generations of new technologies, the user may be severely restricted in the ability to use the software, increasing the likelihood that the user will not use the improved software, but will reduce productivity using the comfortable previous generation software system.
Current software training also use other readily available training techniques. For example, some systems may utilize pop-up windows having visual demonstrations of a particular application resource. Other approaches may include a user prompting a system to run a tutorial when the user first launches a software package or is confused during operation. For example, in one technique, an application may detect its initial execution and provide tutorials or other general training techniques. In another example, an application may automatically provide a tip every time the application is launched. In another technique, the application may monitor the user's usage and attempt to predict an activity, such as drafting a letter. Upon this prediction, the application may launch a general tutorial or an instructional tool for the specific activity.
The current software training approaches are standardized approaches lacking customization directed to specific users. As the complexity of the underlying software increases, the software training techniques should be customizable to focus on the target audience of the intended user. Therefore, there exists a need for software training technique using a customized technique for targeted training of software users.